WiiTweet is a Twitter client that allows you to interact with your friends right from your Wii.

It follows Twitter's security guidelines by implementing PIN-based authorization and using HTTPS in every request. Read Authorization Flow below to get a more detailed explanation of how and why WiiTweet gets authorized by you.

IMPORTANT: Modified (scam) versions of this application are easy to build so I encourage you to download WiiTweet only from the link provided at this page or using the Homebrew Browser.

Note to developers: This page is intended to have user-level information. For developer-level information check the project page.

Authorizing WiiTweet

WiiTweet authorizes itself using, as suggested by Twitter, PIN-based authorization. You do not need to provide your Twitter password to start using WiiTweet! Read Authorization Flow below to get a more detailed explanation of how and why WiiTweet gets authorized by you.

There are three ways of authorizing this application: visiting an URL using an external device, visiting an URL using the Internet Channel and providing your Twitter username/password.

Using an external device

An URL appears on screen, you go there from your computer/phone/another Wii, get your PIN and enter it to WiiTweet.

Using the Internet Channel

Internet Channel is launched and you get your PIN there. You have to go back to WiiTweet and select the corresponding profile to enter the PIN. Slow but useful to people with no access to an external device at the time.

Providing your username and password

You are asked for your Twitter username and password and WiiTweet authorizes itself. This is still PIN-based authorization but WiiTweet gets and reads the PIN automatically. Your password is not stored and you will not need it again to use WiiTweet.

Local password support

If you set a local password it will be needed to access your profile. Use this if you want to protect your privacy from people with access to your Wii.

Encryption

Your OAuth credentials are saved at your SD/USB. If you do not set a local password they will be stored in plain text. If you set a local password your credentials will be encrypted.

These credentials do not include your Twitter password (even if you authorized WiiTweet providing your Twitter username and password).

Browsing Twitter

After logging in you will be presented with your home timeline in a screen similar to this one:

Toolbar

You can invoke the toolbar by pointing the cursor to the upper area of the screen or pressing the home button.

The toolbar has icons for the following actions:

Home: Loads your home timeline

Mentions: Loads tweets you are mentioned in

Search: Search tweets or users

Log out: Change profile

Credits: Loads WiiTweet's credits

Tweet: Update your status

Tweet boxes

Tweets are displayed within boxes. You interact with tweets by clicking on them or by holding B (which shows additional options) and clicking a corresponding button.

If you click on a tweet box it will perform different actions deppending on where you click.

If you click its leftmost area (see picture below) you will load the author's timeline directly.

Clicking anywhere else you will display the brief tweet prompt.

User boxes

Users are also displayed within boxes. You interact with users by clicking on them (which loads the user's timeline) or by holding B and clicking a corresponding button.

Brief tweet

This window is basically an user box and a tweet box in the same window, slightly different formatted. Hashtags and mentions are added as buttons at the bottom of the window.

Controls

Action

Cursor

/

Scroll

Click button

(held)

Show the background of the pointed unit

/

Go back/forward one page

Show toolbar

(Brief tweet window)

Close the window

(held)

Exit to loader

Keyboard

Keyboard layouts are configurable/remappable allowing you to use any character included in the font WiiTweet uses. WiiTweet comes with a keyboard map with some unicode icons to show this feature off.

Controls

Action

Accelerometer

Cursor

/

Press key

Shift

/

/

Keyboard layout

Acc only

Enter acc mode

Acc only

Delete

Acc only

Shake

Space

The accelerometer keyboard is currently poorly tuned and practically unusable.

Using custom keyboard maps

Keyboard map files must be placed in the /apps/wiitweet/kbmaps/ folder of your loading device (SD/USB).

The file must be named keyboardmapX where X is the position you want it to be.

If you place a keyboardmap0 file it will overwrite the default keyboard.

Do not skip positions. If you have a keyboardmap1, a keyboardmap2 and a keyboardmap5 file WiiTweet will not load keyboardmap5.

Making custom keyboard maps

Authorization Flow

Note: This is intended to be a simplified explanation of what happens during authorization.Read Using OAuth at Twitter developers site or the OAuth 2 specification for more technical information.

Twitter uses OAuth to provide authorized access to its content because it does not require users to share their passwords with 3rd party applications (such as WiiTweet), increasing account security.

How OAuth/PIN-based authorization works

When I registered WiiTweet Twitter gave me two random, unique strings to identify it. Such strings are used as signatures. When a new user wants to authorize WiiTweet it sends a "Somebody wants to authorize me" message to Twitter and signs it, letting Twitter know WiiTweet sent the message. Twitter answers with a "Prove me that's true" message containing an URL WiiTweet must ask the user to visit.

In the mentioned URL the user is asked (if he/she is not already) to log in. This is the only time the user has to provide his/her username and password and these are only provided to Twitter. The user is prompted to authorize WiiTweet and gets a PIN after doing so. That PIN is a "If WiiTweet gets this PIN then it was true" check.

Back at WiiTweet the user is asked to enter the PIN he/she got from Twitter, which is sent back. Twitter answers with two random, unique strings that identify this user-application relationship. Such strings are used to sign every action an user does within WiiTweet, letting Twitter know they are authorized by the user.

Revoking an authorization

Changing your Twitter password will not terminate your relationship with any application you authorized using OAuth.

You have to revoke the access through your account settings at Twitter's website.